$@%#!!! I just bought a new computer I can ill afford.

[Madrone]

But - god, it sucks working on an oldie moldy - and it REALLY sucks working on, repairing, configuring other people's computers daily in my line of work when they are ALL better than MINE. These people don't use their computer but once per week to send a couple of emails. I'm a power user, dammit! I want MORE POWER! This AMD K62-450 ain't cutting it! I can't even play the obsolete games I have on it, as they are so choppy they are unplayable.

I've been wanting to build what I REALLY want for a long time, but don't have the funds to do it. I found a refurb HP Pavillion - AMD XP 2600, 500megs DDR RAM, 120 gig HD, 333MHZ frontside bus, 2 firewire ports, 5 USB ports (one of each in front), a 6-in-1 card reader in front (yay! no more downloading pics from the camera via serial cable!) 48x cd burner (yay! no more 8x), dvd rom drive (I don't really care about that one), 8x AGP slot, onboard ethernet, etc - all for $449.99. I forgot to send my rent check out, so the money's in the account - I'm an OWNER.

I get paid tomorrow, so rent's no problem. I just hope I don't want to eat in the next 2.5 weeks..... :)

I'm hoping that sick feeling I have in the pit of my stomach over spending that money will disappear when the new puter arrives!

[TroubleMan]

1. um....you're going to need a video card

It would be a shame to waste all of that with onboard AGP.

Nothing slows you down like an integrated graphics card.

[Madrone]

3. I know, I know -

but it will be more usuable than what I have NOW - and I plan on getting a vid card when I can.

Right now, I have a GeForceMX400 64MB PCI card - which shouldn't be so bad in this old computer, but my games are still choppy. I don't even have an agp slot in this one.

Thankfully, vid cards have come down a LOT in price, so maybe in a month or two I will have recovered enough to get a decent one.

[Gman]

2. Its a helluva deal for $450

Don't worry about the money... it'll be worth it once you get back in the financial groove.

[Madrone]

5. I know it's a good deal - that's why I clicked "add to cart" and

"confirm purchase" without allowing myself to say "Self, WTF!! are you THINKING???!?" lol

Here's a pic:




Here's the link, if anyone else is interested in a good deal:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7669&Sku=N52-H162

[EV1Ltimm]

6. oooooh, pretty.

shrimp and chicken flavored ramen noodles for a while, eh?

:)

[Madrone]

7. Won't stay that pretty for long -

I don't have a computer at home or at work that isn't sitting around with the case cracked open. Makes it much easier to get in and out of them :)

And ORIENTAL flavored ramen - they're the only vegetarian flavor. :D

Now - I'll just stop thinking about all of the bills that are due, or are coming due shortly! :) Ha!

Time to pick up some computer repair work on the side!

[EV1Ltimm]

8. yeah, i dropped a pretty penny on a nice case once...

it's in a different room now, but the chassis is still here!

[Interrobang]

9. Nonsense!

Ever read the label on any of those ramen packages? All artificial flavours! I once fed *chicken* flavoured ramen to a *vegan* friend of mine because it was the only thing I had in the house that was quick to eat at 5AM when we'd been up all night, were starved, and wanted hot food. If you still don't like the chicken or beef ones, that's your problem. I imagine you could still get vegetable or mushroom, though, although why you'd want mushroom ones I don't know.

Enjoy your new 'puter. I just got a really hot system as a b-day present from my hardware maven fiance, and now I have a better computer than he does! :)

[Madrone]

10. Yep - I've read the labels -

and they all have chicken broth in them - cept for the oriental. Which, BTW, I didn't believe (because I have read the labels) when my SO insisted that he knew what he was talking about - that oriental WAS veg. He's entitled to be right ONCE, I guess - :D

[DS1]

11. Oriential Ramen also goes best with canned Tuna

should you be able to afford tuna, just make sure it's solid albacore in water.

[madrchsod]

4. a dollar box of

mac and cheese goes along way......

[mike_c]

12. solid hardware is more important than rent any day...

...IMO. Eating is over-rated, too. But did you say 333 Mhz FSB? Not sure I'd commit to weeks of Ramen for that....

[Florida_Geek]

13. I buy from

http://www.softwareandstuff.com/ and they have good prices.


They have some video cards starting at 9.00 and up