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nockergeekA month ago, I described the specs of a PC I was considering building as an upgrade to my existing computer. My current computer is about four-and-a-half years old, and since then there's been a few major changes. Dual core processors, DDR2 memory, and PCI-Express expansion slots have supplanted the older tech that's in my PC. Because of this, doing a full upgrade meant basically building a new box from scratch. Unfortunately, doing so comes with a hefty price tag. In order to build a computer that won't need upgrades for another four-and-a-half years, the tab comes to around $1,500. It's a worthy goal, and one that can be accomplished over time by savings, but it doesn't help much now.
After talking withthe_z about my desire to upgrade, and about her overall desire to conserve space, I came up with a different upgrade plan, the first step of which has been set into motion today. The long-term goal will be to upgrade myself to a high-quality gaming laptop in about a year or so. This would allow me to get a new, much smaller computer desk, which is good as we'll be needing to move Z's computer back into the office once Andi's crib transforms into a bed. It would also allow me to be mobile throughout the house, something to which we've both become accustomed thanks to our current laptop. However, this is a much more expensive goal - a laptop comparable to what I was building is easily in the $2,000 to $3,000 range. The price might drop a little in the next year, but not by much. Also, as with the computer build, it doesn't help much now.
So the first step is still upgrading my current computer and keeping the price as low as possible. Fortunately, I don't need something with killer performance right now. My biggest PC games are World of Warcraft, Dawn of War, and eventually the Orange Box (which I have for the 360, but if I ever want to play TF2 with my dad, I'll need it for PC.) To keep the cost as low as possible, I need to forgo any major architecture changes. That means not upgrading to anything terribly current. Fortunately, DDR memory and AGP video cards can still be had, and considering that there's little demand for them these days, they can be found at a very nice price. I've just ordered 2 GB of DDR 333 memory and a 512 MB Radeon X1650 PRO AGP video card, and the whole thing comes to $144 plus shipping (which is minimal). For a tenth of the price of my previous upgrade plan, I can get another year out of my desktop PC with better performance all around.
I should probably look for a new hard drive as well, but I've been considering just going with a USB passport HDD to store media, which would free up a fair amount of space and keep it portable, which is a good plan considering our intentions to become a two-laptop house in a year. Otherwise, I'm looking at a SATA drive (and sadly, my mobo only does the old SATA 1 1.5 Gb/s speed), or an IDE drive (which are damn cheap right now - the difference between an 80GB and a 250GB is less than $30 right now). One thing at a time, though.
After talking with
the_z about my desire to upgrade, and about her overall desire to conserve space, I came up with a different upgrade plan, the first step of which has been set into motion today. The long-term goal will be to upgrade myself to a high-quality gaming laptop in about a year or so. This would allow me to get a new, much smaller computer desk, which is good as we'll be needing to move Z's computer back into the office once Andi's crib transforms into a bed. It would also allow me to be mobile throughout the house, something to which we've both become accustomed thanks to our current laptop. However, this is a much more expensive goal - a laptop comparable to what I was building is easily in the $2,000 to $3,000 range. The price might drop a little in the next year, but not by much. Also, as with the computer build, it doesn't help much now.So the first step is still upgrading my current computer and keeping the price as low as possible. Fortunately, I don't need something with killer performance right now. My biggest PC games are World of Warcraft, Dawn of War, and eventually the Orange Box (which I have for the 360, but if I ever want to play TF2 with my dad, I'll need it for PC.) To keep the cost as low as possible, I need to forgo any major architecture changes. That means not upgrading to anything terribly current. Fortunately, DDR memory and AGP video cards can still be had, and considering that there's little demand for them these days, they can be found at a very nice price. I've just ordered 2 GB of DDR 333 memory and a 512 MB Radeon X1650 PRO AGP video card, and the whole thing comes to $144 plus shipping (which is minimal). For a tenth of the price of my previous upgrade plan, I can get another year out of my desktop PC with better performance all around.
I should probably look for a new hard drive as well, but I've been considering just going with a USB passport HDD to store media, which would free up a fair amount of space and keep it portable, which is a good plan considering our intentions to become a two-laptop house in a year. Otherwise, I'm looking at a SATA drive (and sadly, my mobo only does the old SATA 1 1.5 Gb/s speed), or an IDE drive (which are damn cheap right now - the difference between an 80GB and a 250GB is less than $30 right now). One thing at a time, though.
