Last month, I bought a bunch of computer guts and built the latest in a series of computers for me to use at home.

I've been doing this since 1999, when I built a dual P3-450. I upgraded that machine in 2001, then the DeathStar hard drive died in 2002 and I used it as an excuse to build an Athlon XP 1700+.

Two and a half years later, I decided it was time to make another move. More specifically, the one-two punch of Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 decided that for me.

Now I have this computer, which will only make sense to computer guys like myself:

• Abit AV8 motherboard (Socket 939, VIA K8T800 chipset)
• Athlon64 3500+ (2.2 GHz, Winchester core, 90nm)
• XFX GeForce 6600GT AGP (128MB, 500Mhz, dual DVI output, NV43 core)
• WD Raptor 74GB (10K RPM, SATA, 8MB cache)
• NEC ND-3500A DVD+/-RW (16x)
• 2x512MB Crucial Ballistix DDR400 RAM (2-2-2-6)
• Windows XP Pro (meh)
• Antec Sonata case

Here are a few observations:

1. The Raptor is a fast hard drive. I mean wicked fast. I'm having a hard time getting used to most I/O operations being nearly instant. It's a tad noisy perhaps, but I think that's just because...
2. The Antec Sonata is the quietest desktop case I've ever been around. I thought the little HP machines I bought for the OCI lab were quiet, but I had one of them at my house recently and was clearly louder than my machine. "Too loud" was my number one complaint about the old computer, and that's not a problem anymore. I also like how the outrageously strong blue lights on the front light up the carpet for ten feet in front of the case and go halfway up the opposite wall. It's a night light.
3. I wish my computer wouldn't blue screen when I exit UT2004. I think it's a problem with the on-board sound, which I'm using until I decide on a better sound card. This my only complaint.
4. My new computer can compile, deploy, and create Javadoc for my current project in less time than my work computer takes to compile the Java source. (See "fast hard drive" above.)
5. Half-Life 2 is easily the best looking video game ever.

I'm happy. It's a nice machine.

Of course, I still want a PowerBook...