After following the prices for nearly 2 months, I finally made move during my block leave in December.
First thing to hoot is a power supply. After some research, I find that the 480W HEC will provide me with enough power for all the components, and room for future improvements. Damage me at $118 at that time.
Next comes the motherboard + CPU bundle, which was the hardest decision to made. AMD or Intel? In the end, I went for the "lowest of the highest end". Core 2 Duo 6300. Total damage, $566.
Next of course is the most important graphic card. Without it, the whole "upgrading computer" will be meaningless. After much research, I take up the Geforce 7900GS Sonic, the "best value for money" at that point of time. It was one of the best cards before DX10 cards came out. Burnt $309 in my pocket. And course I brought 1 GB of RAM at $167 at that point... Total damage in December was $1158.
That was it. I only planned to upgrade my computer until that point. My budget was $1200. And I was happy... But not long after that, I hoot another 1GB ram at $162 in late december, And a pair of Logitech speakers at $69 (My old one is dying)... After that I brought Audigy 2 Refurbished for $25 at the Creative Warehouse sales. Total damage in December was $1414.
That was my max i thought... Until in March, the IT Show came... Something got over my heads and I went to hoot XtremeMusic for $179... The improved in sound quality over the Audigy 2 is really by leaps and bounds, even on my cheapo speakers. It really rocked my room. Audigy 2 has been sleeping in my cupboard ever since.
Later on, I hoot another 250GB SATA drive due to lack of IDE ports in my MOBO, and I'm running out of space. $128 gone. Total damage by March, $1721. That was it. I promised NOT TO BUY ANYMORE THING. I've gone $500 over my budget...
But...ALAS!
I cannot control myself when the PC Show arrives in June. My logitech mouse is damaged. (It won't receive my right clicks, and has costed me a number of games) So I thought, what the heck. If I want to upgrade I might as well get a good one. Originally wanted to get DeathAdder, but in the end I decided to stick with the more budget Diamondback. What's more it came with a Exactmat Bundle. $69. Loved it. Drastic improvement over the old mouse.
And of course. The latest addition to the family is my Philips 22WS. It's one of my favourite item of them all. Haha. If there's one item I won't regret buying, it's this. $499.
$1000 over my initial budget. It took 6 months for me to do a "makeover" of my computer. I won't say I regret it. If you give me $2000 and want me to go back to using the old computer, I will not do it. Haha.
It's not just "anyhow spend" though. I've learnt so much more about computers in the past 6 months, including my first time assembling a computer from scratch. How to choose individual components - how much power you need, the different connections, how certain things is not what it seems on paper, how to read the specifications of graphic cards and LCDs and many many more. All I wouldn't have know if I had just read them from books.
When you have to spend your hard earn money, you will really be cautious. Buy 1 thing only, you'll read up so much on it, and really analyze and compare the data. Then when you get the thing, you have to fix it up yourself. Doing these is like 10 times more effective then reading from textbooks.
Finally, just want to say I love my current computer! I think I'm officially a "geek". Wee!
First thing to hoot is a power supply. After some research, I find that the 480W HEC will provide me with enough power for all the components, and room for future improvements. Damage me at $118 at that time.
Next comes the motherboard + CPU bundle, which was the hardest decision to made. AMD or Intel? In the end, I went for the "lowest of the highest end". Core 2 Duo 6300. Total damage, $566.Next of course is the most important graphic card. Without it, the whole "upgrading computer" will be meaningless. After much research, I take up the Geforce 7900GS Sonic, the "best value for money" at that point of time. It was one of the best cards before DX10 cards came out. Burnt $309 in my pocket. And course I brought 1 GB of RAM at $167 at that point... Total damage in December was $1158.
That was it. I only planned to upgrade my computer until that point. My budget was $1200. And I was happy... But not long after that, I hoot another 1GB ram at $162 in late december, And a pair of Logitech speakers at $69 (My old one is dying)... After that I brought Audigy 2 Refurbished for $25 at the Creative Warehouse sales. Total damage in December was $1414.
That was my max i thought... Until in March, the IT Show came... Something got over my heads and I went to hoot XtremeMusic for $179... The improved in sound quality over the Audigy 2 is really by leaps and bounds, even on my cheapo speakers. It really rocked my room. Audigy 2 has been sleeping in my cupboard ever since.
Later on, I hoot another 250GB SATA drive due to lack of IDE ports in my MOBO, and I'm running out of space. $128 gone. Total damage by March, $1721. That was it. I promised NOT TO BUY ANYMORE THING. I've gone $500 over my budget...
But...ALAS!
I cannot control myself when the PC Show arrives in June. My logitech mouse is damaged. (It won't receive my right clicks, and has costed me a number of games) So I thought, what the heck. If I want to upgrade I might as well get a good one. Originally wanted to get DeathAdder, but in the end I decided to stick with the more budget Diamondback. What's more it came with a Exactmat Bundle. $69. Loved it. Drastic improvement over the old mouse.
Total Damage: $2289
$1000 over my initial budget. It took 6 months for me to do a "makeover" of my computer. I won't say I regret it. If you give me $2000 and want me to go back to using the old computer, I will not do it. Haha.
It's not just "anyhow spend" though. I've learnt so much more about computers in the past 6 months, including my first time assembling a computer from scratch. How to choose individual components - how much power you need, the different connections, how certain things is not what it seems on paper, how to read the specifications of graphic cards and LCDs and many many more. All I wouldn't have know if I had just read them from books.
When you have to spend your hard earn money, you will really be cautious. Buy 1 thing only, you'll read up so much on it, and really analyze and compare the data. Then when you get the thing, you have to fix it up yourself. Doing these is like 10 times more effective then reading from textbooks.
Finally, just want to say I love my current computer! I think I'm officially a "geek". Wee!
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