Members system specs in table/spreadsheet format

[BruceG]

Good morning all

Would it be possible for a table/spreadsheet format showing members setups to be made available, especially for new users.

No doubt like many others, I keep trawling through members specs, trying to find a 'common' set of specs that I can go out any buy, safe in the knowledge that others more wise and experienced than me have trodden the same path, an equally importantly, there is some help at hand should things go wobbly after a new setup has been commissioned. Seems that as I get closer to desired specs, a new mobo etc comes along, and a whole new saga of assessing components starts again.

What I am thinking is a simple spreadsheet, with columns for each component-type (mobo, CPU, PSU, OS, etc), plus column for uses (WWW, DVD, music, games, bluray, etc), perhaps date of system creation, etc.

Any supporters for this concept out there ?


Thanks
Bruce G.

[RavenMad]

+1
I think that's a great idea! I've done exactly the same thing so having a central repository of builds to use as a reference would be very handy.

Adrian

[BruceG]

Originally Posted by RavenMad

+1
I think that's a great idea! I've done exactly the same thing so having a central repository of builds to use as a reference would be very handy.

Adrian

Adrian

Thanks for the 'thanks'.

Not sure how my post moved topics, but I hope it will ttract further support.

Thanks

Bruce

[BruceG]

C'mon folks

There has been a number of visitors here; how about some comments from the old and bold for us newbies.

Hey Mr. Mike - how about tossing some form of table together for a trial. Surely the specs data on a few members with good specs could be use to populate the table. Hopfully, others might follow.


We could call the beast Mike's Maze::

[Mike]

Not a bad idea and certainly one that's been discussed at various times before, problem is - how would the goal be achieved, and who would be willing to maintain it?

For the benefit of anybody else who may also believe this is a good idea, rather than simply dismissing it based on what I already know, I'll take a few minutes to provide a detailed explanation.

If we assume that this document was an excel spreadsheet, as we we have nearly 57,000 members and growing at between 350 and 500 a week, how do we decide who's specs get listed? The only way to achieve an "open" document that anybody could access would be to :

1. Enable read/write access to the spreadsheet for everybody, or
2. Have someone (seems you're suggesting me ) maintain it based on information provided by those members who were prepared to send it in.

The first one would not be possible unless it was a file in the downloads section which people could download, edit then re-upload. That's simply not feasible because each upload would then become a new file. To get around that would entail giving everybody Admin or Moderator access to the entire downloads section to allow people to overwrite other people's files, and for obvious reason that can't happen. Apart from that, all I could do would be to place the file somewhere on the server which would allow absolutely everybody access to it, and we all know what would happen to it once the mischievous buggers out there got their grubby little hands on it.

As for the second method, I'm sorry but I have more than enough to do already running this place and the server, there's no way I'd be willing or able to take on the maintenance of a project like the one you describe. Unfortunately, nobody else apart from the Moderators could do it either because we would again run into the permissions issue.

There is another major impediment to the concept and that is, by definition, media center computers are built from a huge cross section of components, this you know because it's this very situation which caused you to conceive of this idea - and quite a reasonable thought as well.

But look at it from another prospective, once people have spent time with us, built & tuned their rigs and have a working system with backup images, they usually learn not to touch it and that system may sit largely unchanged for 1, 2 or even more years whilst they move on to the next project. If their specs were listed on "the spreadsheet", within a few months they'd be outdated and after 12 months practically irrelevant since the components would not be available any more. This means that the spreadsheet would keep on growing to the point where it was choking with outdated information unless someone was also willing to put in the extra time to "weed out" the outdated and therefore irrelevant entries.

So whilst I applaud your suggestion, given that we've been through this many times with the same result, it's not really a viable plan. Being mindful of this problem and particularly given the visibility of member MC rig specs, some time ago I hacked the templates (don't I always) and added the javascript "fly-out" box to the bottom of each member's post. If he's taken the time to fill in his details, the idea is that if someone helps you who appears to you to know what he's talking about, a standing which is also verified by his reputation points tally, why not look at his system specifically and use that as your guide? Even then I'll guarantee that most of the "old timers" around here are running 1 or even 2 year old systems, and as for the people with brand new rigs, well they're here trying to get them working, so it's a little hard to judge how their combination is working out at the moment.

Believe me, I have thought this through many times, and if were an easy one I'd have done it a long time ago. Some time ago following a few members' suggestions, I even built a wiki for the express purpose of allowing the community to contribute to a separate and dynamic database of information which they controlled, sadly it never got off the ground because the people who asked for it moved on without contributing and it was left to me to maintain it.

To close this diatribe, if it were so easy to just buy the kit, bolt it all together and create for yourself a (practically) closed PVR box, this place and TGB would never have grown to the point we have. It's the very fact that there are so many permutations available that we have need of a support forum in the first place.

So whilst it might take a little extra effort to read, digest and form an opinion, once you have your planned system on paper, posting it here and asking for feedback may in fact be a a far better option, it's personal to you and it certainly makes it much easier for the whole community to share the support workload.

Mike

[BruceG]

Good morning Mike

Thanks for the prompt reply.

I have had a quick read through, and take your points. Need to dash now and check out some train timetables for yum cha in sydney China town today, but will re-read in detail this arvo.

Thanks

Bruce G

[Sutty]

Originally Posted by Mike

Not a bad idea and certainly one that's been discussed at various times before, problem is - how would the goal be achieved, and who would be willing to maintain it?

Mike

Like Mike, I don't see that any effort on this would produce a "product" that would be worthy of the amount of effort involved in consolidating all this information. However, that does not mean the information doesn't already exist or is unavailable.

MCE owners - I have found - are proud of their rigs, and are not shy about sharing the information about what they have, what is good, what isn't so good and what they are looking at to make it better. In summary - the information is there and it is as current as could be expected.

The real answer is in researching (not just searching). I have never needed to start a thread to solve a problem, because I have always found information that helped me solve it. It was always there, and all I had to do was search for it. When I was looking at building/acquiring my rig, I spent a lot of time looking through the profiles of the most experienced users (both here and on TGB). The thing to remember about searching is that it is not always a process that generates "the answer", rather it brings information forward that may or may not contribute to finding the answer. Good searching throws up "refined ore" in which you can research. (as an aside - I bristle at posts that start "I searched but I didn't find ... ", because in most cases it is clear that they didn't - well not more than a cursory attempt)

Back to the topic...

The information manager inside me gets uncomfortable with generating data for data's sake - and that is what the OP's request appears to be doing. I am even more uncomfortable with recollecting information that is already available simply to suit a transformation to suit a limited market. I see that the underlying value to the MCE world for this request would be to introduce more happy newbies. Given the stats that Mike stated about membership of the board, I'm not sure attracting new people to our world is a problem we have.

That is not to suggest that the OP's request is not without value, rather that the cost of the proposed solution simply doesn't make it worthwhile (this is the point that Mike was making). Perhaps we could look at making some of the available information more accessible. It is in a database after all. One idea might be to do stats runs on the relevant information captured in the profiles. You could construct a query to produce crosstab tables of equipment usage, and post it to a live page, presented as graphs or tables as appropriate. This is the sort of thing that databases are for.

I am not suggesting that Mike - or myself for that matter - should jump to this, but it does offer a transformation of collected information that may have some value with relatively little cost.

[BruceG]

Thanks Sutty and Mike for you thoughts and comments.

Since reading through your comments, I certainly see the size problems generated by such a large membership of the forum.

It seems there are 3 or so sets of forum users:

1) Novices like me, wanting to find as much info as possible, and perhaps then adopt a tried and true build. Once such build is up and running, then seeking feedback and advice from users with the same gear, and finally fading into the background, with WAF having been achieved and maintained;

2) Users from 1) above, who remain active and then enhance their system or its uses along the way;

3) Users from 1) and 2), who become hardcore or techno-phobic, talking of 'overclocking' (whatever that is!), CPU temperatures, etc, etc.

Perhaps a much simplier and equally appreciated facility could be a table of (say 6-10. with AMD and INTEL options) basic builds, which to a new user provides sufficient umph to get a safe and sound HTPC up, running and WAF'ed.

On the few occasions that I have found a build that seems to meet my needs, along comes an upgraded mobo, etc. and its back to square 1, primarily as I am hesitant in running out and buying a new mobo that hasn't done the rounds in the forum.

So, in conclusion, if it were possible for an 'old hands group' to assemble a small set of 'tried and true' build profiles (based or rated on needs from simple use through to gaming use), then a lot of forever-to-be novices might be well pleased. Obviously, the set of builds would need to be updated every so often, decided by the old hands group and released in a regular sticky.

Thanks

Bruce G

[ozbear]

Bruce,
Perhaps a concrete example of why this data is less useful than you think it might be may help. My rig is now about 3 years old, originally running MCE 2005 nd going thrugh al the stages update,rollups and so forth to the present time of running Vista Media Centre.
It has always been a stable beast, most likely overspec'ed when built but there were more unknowns about performance, CPU utilisation, etc. than now. However, I don't believe that the CPU, tuners, motherboard, drives, and other components in a 3 year old box would do anyone much good, since I would doubt (but have not checked) that they are even available for purchase now. For example, my tuners are Avermedia A16A's, always very stable with good drivers and fast channel switching. I don't think they are made anymore but have been superceded by some other model.

Oz

[krypto]

Since I built my VMC rig last year the following has changed:

MOBO: Built using a GA-MA69GM-S2H the mobo has gone through 4 evolutions to GA-MA78GM-S2H then GA-MA78GM-DS3H then GA-MA78GPM-DS2H and now GA-MA790GP-DS4H

CPU: Built using a x2 5200+ then BE2350 released then 4850e and now 9350e, all CPUs that I would have considered

HDD: Built using Samsung 500Gb, shortly thereafter a range of fast and green 1tb drives released

So system specs have a very short life span and are largely of historical interest.