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bumpety bump
Hubby likes to build his own computers, so I could have him go that way, but for how I use mine -- even the gaming -- I seem to do fine with prebuilt stuff. I am picky about what I choose, and I probably know just enough to be dangerous, but I've had my desktop nearly three years now and have only changed the following: upgraded RAM to 2MB when RAM got cheaper, added the 19" LCD monitor, upgraded to MS4000 natural keyboard and Logitech mouse, threw in "old" hard drive from previous computer as a second HD, added an external 250GB HD (which I got from TigerDirect for $69!), mostly for backups.
Nothing all that expensive, really. Even the 19" monitor was on sale for $149 -- a great price at the time.
It came with a 256MB PCI Express graphics card (ATI), and I've been happy with it with the games I play.
I use Vista Business on it with no issues too.
But if something major "goes" on it at some point (motherboard, processor), I'll probably upgrade to something with dual core and 64-bit. No hurry, though. There isn't a thing I can't do right now that I want to do. Except play much older games that aren't Vista-compatible...
...which is why I keep an old clunky Compaq computer around with Win98 on it.
Nothing all that expensive, really. Even the 19" monitor was on sale for $149 -- a great price at the time.
It came with a 256MB PCI Express graphics card (ATI), and I've been happy with it with the games I play.
I use Vista Business on it with no issues too.
But if something major "goes" on it at some point (motherboard, processor), I'll probably upgrade to something with dual core and 64-bit. No hurry, though. There isn't a thing I can't do right now that I want to do. Except play much older games that aren't Vista-compatible...
...which is why I keep an old clunky Compaq computer around with Win98 on it.
Nice work Seds. 
I made a vow a few years ago never to buy a new PC again and just go through a state of continuous modification and tinkering. Last thing I got was a new case and some more RAM. Next will be a decent GPU when funds allow.
Big boys' Lego!
I made a vow a few years ago never to buy a new PC again and just go through a state of continuous modification and tinkering. Last thing I got was a new case and some more RAM. Next will be a decent GPU when funds allow.
Big boys' Lego!
Sweet stuff, Sedai. 
My comp is dying right before my eyes right now, not sure how much longer I will be active online today...
Bump
I had to go on the cheap a bit, as I had to stay right around that 500 dollar mark.
Just ordered it, and as much as I hated doing it I had to cut back here and there to get the components I really wanted in certain places. Got a sick dual core MSI motherboard and went for the Athlon dual core proc, as the Intel were a bit more. I am on Athlon now, and have had zero issues with the proc, so I should be fine.
I have been using an Nvidia 5 series ultra graphics card for a while now, but it's an AGP card so I had to upgrade to a 512MB GT 8 series to get the PCI Express 16x... Bummer, as my card is still eating games for lunch... I paid a pretty penny for it a while back, but that slot is defunct now, so I can't use it on a newer board.
Got a hard disk that is about 8 times the size of my current one, so that is a step up, and I wanted a new case, as my monster of a server tower needed to go! Too damn big. That cut into my cost, but my current case has had a couple of systems go through it, and it's time for change.
I called the place and got the dude to upgrade my shipping to 2nd day for free, and he also bumped my memory up to 1GB when I harassed him a bit and dropped Dell's name as the competition for my order. so I should have the system fairly soon.
Just ordered it, and as much as I hated doing it I had to cut back here and there to get the components I really wanted in certain places. Got a sick dual core MSI motherboard and went for the Athlon dual core proc, as the Intel were a bit more. I am on Athlon now, and have had zero issues with the proc, so I should be fine.
I have been using an Nvidia 5 series ultra graphics card for a while now, but it's an AGP card so I had to upgrade to a 512MB GT 8 series to get the PCI Express 16x... Bummer, as my card is still eating games for lunch... I paid a pretty penny for it a while back, but that slot is defunct now, so I can't use it on a newer board.
Got a hard disk that is about 8 times the size of my current one, so that is a step up, and I wanted a new case, as my monster of a server tower needed to go! Too damn big. That cut into my cost, but my current case has had a couple of systems go through it, and it's time for change.
I called the place and got the dude to upgrade my shipping to 2nd day for free, and he also bumped my memory up to 1GB when I harassed him a bit and dropped Dell's name as the competition for my order. so I should have the system fairly soon.
Yea, $500 can build you a heck of a computer these days.
Computer bump
Yeah. I looked at some pre-built stuff, but they all have odd issues that one can avoid by building your own. Just as an example, Every computer best buy sells for under, let's say 800$, uses shared memory technology with the graphics rig. The graphics card, even the Nvidia chipsets et al. are special low-dough shared memory versions that steal resources from the system memory. I don't want to mess around with that stuff.
500$, at a big box store, gets me about half the power of a machine I could build myself. I have built a few machines at this point, so it goes together pretty quickly.
My drive is ticking again, gotta shut this POS down... more later!
Oh, wait, it stopped.
Man, that's annoying.
I was just going to replace the hard disk, but, why bother on a machine that is 7 years old... Something else will go after that, and I will start sinking money into a machine that is well past its prime.
500$, at a big box store, gets me about half the power of a machine I could build myself. I have built a few machines at this point, so it goes together pretty quickly.
My drive is ticking again, gotta shut this POS down... more later!
Oh, wait, it stopped.
Man, that's annoying.
I was just going to replace the hard disk, but, why bother on a machine that is 7 years old... Something else will go after that, and I will start sinking money into a machine that is well past its prime.
My computer has a crap load of stuff on it. And for a dual core processor, it slugs along at times. I think I'm accessing the HDD faster then it's capable so, I see a slow down. Just goes to show you how much, and how fast, I use my computer.