Here's the backstory: around Christmas time, we put a new video card and bigger power supply in the computer that is now mine. Since then, I've had to replace the power supply three more times because they have all completely died. Three completely different models, all kaput in just a few months. I also replaced my power surge protection strip, hoping that would solve the problem, but a couple months later, the most recent supply literally exploded with a blue ball of electrical fire.
After some internet research, and some chatting with the computer guy at my local PC store, we've reached the conclusion that my cheap motherboard just can't manage the increased load of my video card. So I started researching motherboards.
I searched and searched for a mini-ATX to fit in my current computer case, with everything configured the way I needed, and I found one! But only one. And it has very low user reviews all over the internet. Apparently it doesn't actually, you know, work.
That started the hunt for a full ATX board. I decided that I wanted a board that would reuse my current processor (an Intel Core 2 Quad), preferably would have no onboard video to avoid any potential conflicts, and preferably would reuse my DDR2 memory. Turns out, that board doesn't exist, but after uping my memory to DDR3, I found just the ticket from
Gigabyte brand.
Next, I needed a case. I looked at every full and mid tower ATX case that New Egg currently carries, which is a lot, including this special kind of awesome
pink and blue gem. I finally decided on everyone's favorite,
Antec Three Hundred--the all black one without the flashy lights. It's classically sexy, and not terribly heavy like some others.
My hard drives are currently installed with Windows Vista x32, but for various reasons I decided to take advantage of New Egg OEM pricing for the new system and upgrade to 64-bit Windows 7. The architecture upgrade freed me up to get lots of memory, so I added 8GB of
crazy teeth RAM.
Now just waiting for processing and shipping. Excited!
This is the first year that Scott and I have celebrated Thanksgiving with our own little turkey dinner (at 2pm, in classic Thanksgiving fashion). Soon we will go visit family for sandwiches, dessert, and games. For now, though, we are quietly enjoying each other's company.