geek envy-- just received my new mainboard and other...

[mike_c]

...system parts. Chaintech CT9CJS Zenith series, and a 3 ghz P4. This mainboard has so many extras that just looking through the box is intimidating. I'm salivating. A nice Antec case, and everything in basic black. You are not worthy. Be very envious....

[toddzilla]

1. bleh..

i did a big upgrade a few months ago in preparation for half life 2 coming out. Of course we all got ganked big time by the delay of the game and now i've upgraded before i needed to and will be stuck with less than state of the art stuff when it does come out..


:argh:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Oh, to someday have...

An AthlonFX 64 system. Oh yes. Someday.

[mike_c]

10. I'm thinking my next system upgrade will be an athlon 64...

...of whatever stripe is available at the time. I really struggled with the CPU decision, and ultimately went P4 because the Athlon XP series is deadending and the FX 64 series is just out, there aren't many mainboard choices, and it's still way expensive. If I'd done this upgrade six months ago it'd be an Athlon 3000+ system instead.

[Deja Q]

3. I'll buy today's top parts next summer when they're half price

:D That $500 video card seems more palatable at $250... Got my Geforce 4 4600 video card at $200 when it originally sold for 2x+ and ditto for the 5900FX Ultra.

Athlon 2100+ CPU for $70, o/c it to 2700+ rating.

Abit dual DDR mobo... :9

[zx22778a]

5. That's exactly what I do.

Last month's technology at half the price. If you don't play the latest first person shooters, then you really don't need the latest computer... but I'd really like one of those dual Athlon motherboards.

[Deja Q]

8. As I recall, you need the Athlon MP processor

Made for multiprocessing. :9 Two standard XP CPUs won't work or isn't guaranteed or whatever... I never pursued MP, yet...

Good point on the games. Though Micromanagement 4 (whoops, SimCity 4) requires a hefty PC and it's simulation...

I still like the speed newer computers offer though. :drool:

Linux also negates the need for the fastest oomph because it's more tightly written, despite havig code fondled by millions of people... (but having the fastest oomph makes Linux even nicer!)

[mike_c]

7. I bought a gForce 5600 for $140 or so for this machine....

I lowballed the graphics card a little because I'm not a gamer. Still, it's a nice card.

[madrchsod]

4. my son built me

a system which kicked ass. then it started going to crap so he bought me a hp-compaq. well the compaq is a piece of crap along with "windows home" instead of pro.the only thing wrong with the old system was that it over heated because it was full of dust. i`m about ready to have him build me a new box and sell this compaq piece of shit. building your own is the only way to go...

[mike_c]

6. agreed, and double agreed where compaq is concerned....

I'm presently using an old Compaq Presario 5724 in my home office (where I'm writing this). This machine has sucked so bad for the last several years that I can't wait to relegate it to some more useful status, e.g. door stop or perhaps a lawn ornament. I do a lot of data analyses and graphics-- I'm not a gamer, but I need a fast machine that's stable. I'm really looking forward to this upgrade.

Yes, it was sort of expensive, but guess what-- my total system cost, and I've bought close to top of the line components-- was less than I paid for the piece of crap Compaq four or five years ago. Excepting the monitor-- I went kinda deluxe there-- the total system cost was just over $1,000. I lowballed the graphics card just a little bit-- I don't use $1,000 technology to play games, so I went with a gForce FX 5600, but otherwise it'll be a screamer. I can't wait to do side-by-side linux kernal compiles just for grins.

[Deja Q]

9. Quite

Pre-made boxes (Compaq, et al) are like big corporations whereas small businesses go for the build-your-own. The latter offer more flexibility and the warranty rarely matters anyway. I'm surprised the DIY components can still be bought.

The pre-built rubbish are often older models which need to be patched and flashed and everything else you'd rather not want to know about.