Shiny new gear

[Værn]

So... I've been wanting a new computer for the past two years, but it wasn't until about six month ago that I finally started moving money around... I put $1,000 in my checking account from a CD, and the rest into a savings account to continue collecting some interest; of the $1,000 I put $600 in a PayPal account so I could buy myself a new computer.
But alas, Newegg wouldn't accept my PayPal payments. It required that I have a "confirmed address," which requires either a credit card (which I don't have and don't want, because I know I'd accidentally drive myself into massive debt) or a buyer reputation of 10 (meaning that I have to buy things from 10 different sources).
Since I couldn't buy the stuff for myself, I finally gave somebody else the money and had them order parts for a new computer for me on Thursday, meaning they should be here by tomorrow! (Well, technically later today, but I haven't been to sleep yet.)

Of course, the most important part of a computer is having something to put it in. I went with this case here. Shiny lights are always a bonus, but the reason I went with this case in particular was the power supply. Sure, I could invest in something shinier than a 420W... but it's cheap, it comes with the case, and it should be more than enough for my new computer.

Next more important is the motherboard. Most important for me was a motherboard that could support up to 8 gigs of RAM. I don't know what I'd need that much memory for... Anyways, after several months of procrastination and after several of the motherboards I was watching were disabled, I eventually settled for this one.

Speaking of 8 gigs of RAM, here it is. The motherboard has 4 slots and supports 8 gigs so, logically, 4 2-gig sticks should be ideal. Right?

But, of course, my friend pointed out that, with my current version of Windows, my OS would only be able to support up to ~3.5 gigs... so I decided to drop 4 gigs off of my order. I used the extra money to upgrade from a 640gb hard drive to a 1tb hard drive. A very large hard drive is a very large priority for me. The laptop I'm using right now has an 80gb hard drive, with less than 3gb of free space left on it.

And, of course, the main reason I've been wanting a new computer is because I need a decent computer for gaming. So far, all of my computers have been my parents' old work computers. Because of this, I've never had a computer capable of supporting games with half-decent graphics. I decided to go with a GeForce 9500. It will be infinitely better than this laptop

As for the processor... meh, I decided to go with a 2.7 ghz dual-core. Better than anything I've ever owned before, and well within my budget.

And, of course, the CD/DVD drive/burner. Beige~

In the end, I saved a bit over $120 from my original budget (after shipping, of course).

TOPICS:
When was the last time you went on a wicked spending spree?
What's in your computer?
Why is Lucky☆Star so awesome?

[Rantz]

I hope you remembered to check that the parts are compatible with each other.

I don't really go on wicked spending sprees.

My computer is the same computer I bought when I was 14 years old. So yeah, it's about 7 years old! I've upgraded it though, part by part, so in truth it's only the case and an unused network card that's original. I have 4 GB DDR2, 1,75 TB storage (1 TB of which is external), an AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (3 GHz) and a NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT (I need to replace that soon).

[Loony BoB]

I own a couple (one for me, one for Danielle) of quality PCs at home but am not sure if I can remember everything I've got in them... cost me a good amount, but worth it if you ask me. I got loads of money from a tax return since I'd been over-taxed for a very long period of time, adding up to something like £5,000. £2,000 of that wiped off my credit card debt (not doing that anymore...), about £1,600 went towards the two computers. I also wiped off my debt to family members, and then the rest went towards buying a flat since my landlord was selling. I wish I could get another random £5,000!

EDIT: Okay, going by memory and the help of the site I got most of the stuff from, the PCs are something like this...

Beast (my PC)
Lian-Li PC-7 case
Samsung DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Lightscribe Re-Writer
Samsung SpinPoint 320MB / 16MB Cache Hard Drive
Intel Core2Duo E6600 2x2.4GHz CPU
2MB RAM
Pretty sure it has a 500w PSU
OcUK GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
BenQ 20" TFT Screen
Logitech X-210 2.1 Speaker System

Terrabithia (Danielle's PC)
Antec Sonata case w/ EarthWatts PSU (400w? 500w? I forget)
Samsung DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Lightscribe Re-Writer
Samsung SpinPoint 320MB / 16MB Cache Hard Drive
Some old random 40GB Hard Drive
Intel Core2Duo E6600 2x2.4GHz CPU
2MB RAM
OcUK GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
Compaq S750 17" Screen w/ JBL speakers on sides

Can't remember the motherboard. Some Gigabyte one in both of 'em.

[Værn]

I hope you remembered to check that the parts are compatible with each other.

Mr. You-Can-Only-Use-3.5-Gigs-Of-RAM said that my biggest problem would probably be the power supply that comes with the case, because it didn't show the specs for it. But he said that he should have adapters laying around somewhere if the connectors weren't right.
(Now I see that it says PSU main connector = 20+4pin)

[Momiji]

1) Depends on what you call a 'wicked spending spree'. I've spent just a little over $100 since my birthday on DVD box sets... that aside, my last serious spending spree was when I dropped around $200 on a Japanese PS2 and a copy of Mushihimesama... It would have been much higher had I not got such a sweet deal on Mushi. Even used copies of that game go for over $160 on eBay.

2) I originally named my computer Yotsuba, but when she got sick and died, I sent her corpse in for repairs, and I left her soul in an external hard drive, where she resides now. When I received my repaired computer, I named it Matsuri. Anyway... *checks dxdiag*
Model: Dell Inspiron 1420
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83GHz
4 GB RAM
nVidia GeForce 8400M GS
14.1" screen, 1440x900 resolution

3) Lucky Star is good, but Hidamari Sketch is better.