If you've paid any attention to my comments over the last few months (and frankly, why would you?), you'd realise that I'm always banging on about getting a new PC. Well shock horror, I actually went and got one. I was planning on getting a new rig for all the October/November games that were coming out and I was saving up accordingly. However, a recent thunderstorm fired my old PC's motherboard and PSU, which meant I was spurred into action sooner. A quick phone call to a reputable dealer and the last Saturday I went and picked up my new rig. I spent $1,625 AUS (US$ GBP - damm Aussie keyboards don't have a pounds symbol on them!), which is a lot but I do get this rather awesome 21.6" Samsung 2253LW monitor which is fabulous, really sharp and crisp. I got a Cooler Master case, which wasn't really a priority decisions: I just wanted a nice case that that had screw less assembly and no front panel that would get in the way. The case itself rests to my right hand side in an alcove in the desk, so it's out of the way and that's why things like a side panel and flashing lights weren't needed. The full specs are:

Core II Duo 3GHZ processor
Asus P5Q Pro motherboard
4GB of DDR II 800 Corsair RAM
ATI 512mb Gigabye 4850 graphics card
2x 500GB Seagate hard drives
SATA DVD writer drive
Corsair 620W PSU
Logitech G5 mouse
Logitech G15 keyboard

It's a nice setup; the corsair power supply makes the rig really quiet which is a godsend; my last one permanently sounded like it was about to croak. The DVD drive is super quick: I ripped some CDs I bought yesterday in super-fast speed. And games: well I couldn't play pretty much any recent games for shit. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. ran like crap on low settings and even Half Life 2 could only be played on low-settings. I've missed out playing CoD4 and the Orange Box games, but I've made up for that. I've bought the Orange Box and I'm planning on getting CoD4 and the Crysis/Warhead pack off Steam maybe during October. I'm playing TF2 right now and working my way through the HL episodes and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky too. Completed Portal last night which was a blast. Can't wait for Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead next month. Here's some photos of my rig (dammed flash!):







I am planning on doing a post of my little geek hideaway here in the house, but first I've got to clean up the place, hang some stuff on the wall and get a rug that really ties the room together.