New Computer

I used to upgrade my desktop computer every year or so to have a machine that could always play the latest PC games. Consequently enough, that was when I myself was working on top-of-the-line PC games and I thought those kind of things were important. In the last few years I’d let the upgrade cycle slip badly. I just don’t play that much anymore, when I do it’s mostly on the console, and as long as XSI keeps running at a satisfactory speed I’m fine with what I have. Or so I thought. With an onslaught of good PC games about to arrive, most notably Neverwinter Nights 2 and Gothic 3, I figured it’s finally time to upgrade my computer. Of course you can’t just ugrade your computer if you’ve been out of the game for such a long time. Oh no, that would be way too easy. I want a new graphics card, but the current generation requires PCI Express. So I need a new motherboard. Which means a new CPU. And a new cooler. And new memory. While we’re at it, let’s just get a new case and some other niceties!
I strictly went for the sweet spot this time around, something else I would never have done a few years ago when it had to be the latest and greatest. But $1000 later I have a pretty neat new system without spending my kids’ college tuition. 3Ghz Pentium, GeForce 7800GTX, 2Gb of RAM – not great, but better than average. So far I (re)installed Oblivion, Quake 4 and Half-Life 2 Ep1, all games that should take advantage of the faster system. When I was done with those I copied Baldur’s Gate 2 from my laptop and resumed playing that instead. It will prepare me for NWN 2, I guess. Yes. And the colors…well, they look twice as pretty when rendered on a 7800GTX card. Yep. I totally needed this new computer.