A few months back, I completely reinstalled Windows XP on R2D2, my main home PC, hoping that it would alleviate some of the performance issues I've been dealing with for the past year or so. Unfortunately, it didn't make much difference, and the little delays and hiccups added up to the point where I started getting the itch for a newer, faster computer.
Because I had success building my first PC, C3PO, and had yet more success a handful of months later when I built my HTPC, Lando, I decided that I wanted to build a beast of a computer that would last me at least another five years, if not longer like my favorite computer of all time, Yoda. To do so, I knew I'd need to put an emphasis on the CPU, the RAM and the overall extensibility of the computer as a whole.
I spent a few weeks looking for the best deals and reviews on Newegg, even switching a few things up the day of my order (which saved me another $50 or so), and ended up ordering all of the parts I needed on March 15th. Because Newegg's got the kind of skills only Napoleon Dynamite could dream of, I received everything in the mail four days later and was ready to build.
Here's what I had to work with:
- COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
- GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
- Rosewill Stallion Series RD400-2-SB 400W ATX Power Supply
- HIS Radeon HD 4670 IceQ Turbo 512MB Video Card
- G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
- LG Black SATA 22X DVD Burner
- Western Digital Caviar 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
I went with the same Rosewill power supply I installed in Lando because I was so impressed by it the last time around. I went with the GIGABYTE motherboard because it was so highly regarded by previous buyers, and partly 'cause it just looked so darn pretty (it looks even prettier up close in person). And as I mentioned earlier, I went with the Q6600 CPU because it's nothing short of an animal.
Luckily enough for me, the build went beautifully and after a couple of hours, I was ready for that anxious moment where you hit the power button for the first time and hope nothing blows up. The LEDs lit, the motherboard splash screen showed up, and next thing I knew I was off and running, installing the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Beta build 7048 as my operating system.
Since then, I've encountered many interesting issues, annoyances and pitfalls that I've either already blogged about or that I plan to blog about in the very near future. The bottom line, though, is that I'm now at the helm of a new, beast of a computer that will hopefully serve me well into the future.
Oh, and I can't forget one last, important detail. I've named the new computer "Skywalker," keeping with my tradition of naming my computers after Star Wars characters. I can already tell the Force is strong with this one...
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