Upgrade, The Final Chapter
Cool, so a 2.8GHz Athlon II X2 240 for the CPU, a 785G uATX motherboard, 4GB of DDR2-800 memory and a 512MB 9800GTX+ for the graphics. Also a new PSU to power it and a DVD drive due to the current one not making the move successfully.
So, it's still the original case and hard drive(s) right? Got to do something about that.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Grin!
Back when I thought the on-board graphics would do the job, I added a 500GB SATA drive to the bundle. I plan to migrate to that, so that's going to take out the old drives, too.
The case stays, though.
It's a black Raidmax Scorpio, as seen here, with multicolor LED fans in the window and rear exhaust positions, a red Cold Cathode in the top, red LED fans in the front, and red LED feet.
Picture (excuse the poor quality — shot without flash to show the lights):
Told ya it was "flashy"!
Again, for those who care:
I spent an hour or so getting everything installed this morning, and then most of the day getting it all working. But that didn't actually surprise me. I was changing most of the significant hardware, and expected to have to jump through some hoops to make Windows happy with the changes.
But a DVD drive that couldn't read my Windows disc any more didn't help, I'll tell ya! A quick trip to pick up a cheap DVD-ROM, and I was back in business.
It's all good now, and I've been checking out the difference all evening.
I went from normally running at minimum settings to keep my machine happy, to where I can now crank the graphics up to max. And the difference is just . . . mind-blowing.
Thanks again to everyone who helped me get through this. Your patience and assistance were invaluable.