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thewelshbrummie
A few upgrades and plenty to consider for the future… first, the additions to the rig.
After a quick email to Amazon, I received my USB/Firewire PCI card, notably with 2 internal USB ports (these internal ports being the reason I bought it). It’s now residing in the one remaining PCI slot and I now have my iMon Ultra Bay and the Card reader on the Scythe Kama Panel connected internally with the USB cables staying inside the case.
I also bought a USB header cable from eBay, to get the 2 USB ports on the Kama Panel to work; these are connected to the spare motherboard header, giving me 4 USB ports on the front of my case (in addition to the 6 on the back panel, 4 from the USB card (2 internal, 2 external) and 4 from my old USB hub… taking one of the motherboard ports for the hub gives me 17 usable USB ports!)
I’ve decided to get a bit more RAM….. I know my Vista Ultimate install is 32 bit but the price of my memory dropped significantly last weekend: the existing pair cost £145, the new 2nd pair £110. Vista reports all 4GB in the system properties, though task manager reports 3,328MB: I’d guess the other 768MB is the shared memory allocated to the GPU but it is now permanently reserving this memory rather than taking it when necessary when I was running 2GB.
I’ve also bought the replacement Compro TV card I’ve mentioned in previous posts, along with a 3m Crossover cable (cost £1) so I can directly backup my Laptop onto my 500GB desktop HDD: something I’ve needed for a while and was part of the original plan for the desktop rig.
So what’s left?
I’ve given up on connecting everything inside the case; not only is space a bit limited in the upper HDD bay of the P182 (well it certainly is thanks to the GPU 6pin cable needing the space) but it will be easier to leave the mouse/keyboard/mobo remote/Bluetooth (if I get it) dongles connected to the back panel of the motherboard; I’ve got 6 USB ports to play with so I’m not in short supply! In addition, it saves opening the case should I want to use my MX Air with my Laptop.
I’m also undecided on a Bluetooth module for my desktop: my laptop has a built in Bluetooth module and I only have my phone and Sat-Nav that use Bluetooth: and then they only benefit from each other, not from connection to my laptop. And I’d prefer to wait for the power saving offered by version 2.1 +EDR rather than a 2.0 device, though the tiny Trust module is tempting…
However I’m still planning ahead. Here’s a list of bits I intend on adding over the next year:
- CPU: I’ll be buying the Q9450 at some point but I may wait for a later stepping; probably wait until just before Nehalem chips are launched . The original B3 Q6600 doesn’t overclock to the same level as the G0 stepping so I’d prefer the best version of the chip before I buy. More importantly, I don’t think the chip is worth £180+, let alone the current RRP of ~£240 (assuming I could get one).
- CPU cooler: unless something better is launched before I buy the CPU, I’ll get the Arctic Freezer Pro 7 with the CPU.
- A new router. My current one does the job but I’d like an 802.11n router with GB cabled ports, options are pretty limited at the moment (and expensive) so it’s one for the future: my current one does everything I need it to, but my current setup is limited to 100MBs cabled and 802.11g (54MBs), with both desktop and laptop supporting 1GBs and 802.11n (300MBs)… so there’s a big speed boost available for when I upgrade.
The remaining items are dependent on each other, as there won’t be any point getting any one without the others.
- GPU: My 256MB 8800GT will last a while, especially with my 1280×1024 17″ Acer TFT but I’ll probably upgrade when the 10 series nVidia cards are lanuched. DisplayPort will be a must.
- Monitor: If I was to buy now, I’d buy a 24″ 1920×1200 TFT (probably the Dell 2408 or the BenQ V2400W if I bought now). But I’d prefer a 1920×1080 monitor with DisplayPort, which will certainly mean a fair wait before they become commonplace. Having said that, I’d want the monitor to have VGA (D-Sub), HDMI, DisplayPort and Composite. I can live without DVI as my current TFT and my Laptop only support D-Sub, so I won’t need it (same goes for component and S-Video). It will also allow me to switch inputs between desktop, laptop and mp3 player (though the max resolution my Zen will output is 640×480 which will look rubbish on such a bit monitor).
- Blu-Ray drives: I’ll upgrade only when CD-RW burning on a Blu-Ray drive hits 32x and DVDRW burning hits 12x: the same as my current DVD burner.I’d also prefer to wait until BD-RE burning hits a minimum of 4x. I may replace my slot-loading drive with a Bly-Ray reader, though the costs are still a bit high at the moment (Span.com were listing it’s Blu-Ray slimline drives for ~£180, both tray & slot loading versions).
I also need a mouse pad, though I’m leaning to a Steelseries pad (probably the SP) or anything that grips the table well.
All of the upgrades I’m planning won’t happen until at least October and then the CPU will be the first upgrade as the E2160, while faster than my old desktop CPU, isn’t as quick as I’d like and really was only a stopgap just to let me get the new rig running while I wait for the Q9450. The other parts are going to be a job for next year.
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