This morning I woke up thinking “I need to upgrade my computer!”. Of course I don’t really need to upgrade, the applications I use don’t require a high spec machine and I haven’t played games for over a year, but there is something about being in the geeky arena that requires a certain level of excitement over your hardware. My current desktop was the product of me wanting a faster machine when I moved to Australia and having too much time on my hand not to make it happen. This time, I would only upgrade the CPU, motherboard and memory, all the other stuff is quite reasonable for my purpose.
Another reason for looking into this was that I don’t tend to follow what’s happening in the hardware world that closely and every now and then you need to upgrade your knowledge in that arena. The main reason for my antipathy is probably that desktops are not that sexy any more. The clunky workhorse, sitting on or under your desktop is just a bulky, noisy, wire infested box that you cant seem to get rid of. Despite 20 years of exciting hardware development, when it comes to the crunch, the cheapest way to get good computing grunt into your hands, is to buy one of these boxes.
And so the saga continues. Every three years or so you upgrade the big black box to get the power processing happening. Not that you really need it or even give it any heavy work to do that often, but you still just have to have it available, or else risk your general interest in the geeky side of life.
At any rate, after looking at some reviews and prices I came up with the following combo:
- Intel Core i7-860 with P55 Express Chipset; $375-
- Gygabyte GA-P55-UD4, $219
- Patriot 4GB 1600, $175
This would come to $774 and its probably not a bad combo. But to be honest, I think I’m going to wait for a bit and buy new sails for my boat rather than do an upgrade at this time.
+ ARS Technica, the guide http://arstechnica.com/hardware/guides/2009/04/ars-technica-system-guide-april-2009-edition.ars
+ My supplier http://www.cpl.net.au/
+ The CPU http://www.intel.com/products/desktop/chipsets/p55/p55-overview.htm
+ The mobo http://www.gigabyte.com.au/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=3161
3 Comments
No point upgrading if you don’t need to!
Buy a new lens man!
Last post was mine.
I thought this app would force me to name myself.
Doh!
.. my next camera upgrade will probably either be a D90 or lighting equipment. I think I have enough lens for now, the next step up will really hurt so holding off on lenses for as long as I can.