when i bought the pc im currently running, i did so with an eye towards longevity... it was, at the time, top-end and i think the fact it lasted almost 7 years without any upgrades other than ram and video card attest to that... but alas, the poor machine is at the end of its useful life... it only boots up maybe one time in three attempts, which is annoying as hell... and the drive has begun to develop the dreaded "tick of death"... all told, i figure its got about 6-8 weeks more life at the maximum, and could easily fail utterly at any moment. considering i need a pc to do my job, i cant let that happen, so it was time to get a new machine...

click here to view the parts list

this machine isnt top-end like my last was, BUT it is built with upgradability in mind. over the life of the machine, i should be able to get AT LEAST one processor upgrade out of it, probably to one of the higher-speed quad cores like the qx8650, 2 or 3 video card upgrades, and faster ram as the prices drop on the higher speed stuff. all told, it should be able to go at least another 5 years. and it was less than $800 shipped after rebates, which was an awesome deal :)

now im all excited :) im not particularly looking forward to building it, but once its built, itll be nice to finally have power to spare again, for a little while anyway...