Janke's Computer Upgrade

[Janke 1st MRB]

Well, ladies and gents, I've decided it's about time to upgrade. I haven't put anything more than RAM and a GFX card in my computer since I got it, and the card is starting to get a little dated (2 years). I figured, 4GB of RAM and a Q6600 quad are still decent specs, let's upgrade the rest. Now, I have a prebuilt that's been upgraded, so the motherboard isn't spectacular, and neither is the case, so I'm worried that I may need a new case later today as well, but I'll have the upgrades done by tonight (hopefully).

Here are my current specs:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz

4GB DDR2 RAM

500GB HDD

Zotac NVidia GeForce 9600GT 512MB

360 watt shitty PSU

As you can see, about time for an upgrade, considering the graphically intensive games I play. Here's what I bought today to upgrade with (Cell phone photos ahoy!):

First, I was on the hunt for a graphics card. I knew it was going to be a GTX 400 series, and this EVGA NVidia GeForce GTX 460 SE 1GB was the best price that a retail store had to offer.

This set me back about $170, the price was cheaper than the $170 listed, and I haven't sent in the mail-in rebate that it says it comes with.

I needed a PSU to go with this, as 360 watts won't pump out enough power for a GTX 460 SE, so I bought the Ultra X4 750 watt Modular PSU I figured I'd buy more than I need so when I upgrade the core components I'd have a bit of futureproofing insurance.

The thing's a big bastard. This and the card are the 2 things that make me think I'll need a new case, my current 9600GT barely fits as is, but then again it's a slim and long one.

I had some extra cash in my budget, so I figured I'd spoil myself and add Blu-Ray capabilities to my PC, to help me watch some of the ones I got for Christmas, so I don't take up the PS3 for hours. That's why I got the HP bd240i SATS Blu-Ray Combo Drive. I got this open-box for $67, so a fair bit cheaper than the official site. It reads BD-R, but unfortunately doesn't write them, that model was $100 more, and I wasn't about to spend that.

Christ, this picture turned out shaky...

A while ago, I took a chance with a newegg holiday sale and got myself one of the "Deathstar" 1TB Hard drives. I thankfully got one from after the bad 2009 batch, but I got a Hitachi Deskstar 1TB 7200RPM 32MB HDD. Set me back $65-ish, but I wanted a new hard drive, I've managed to waste almost 500GB of mine now, and I want to run a triple boot of Ubuntu-Win7-Vista, mostly because I don't want to format this 500GB, I need some data off it, and it's easier to transfer Steam over than re-download some 200GB of games and mods.

I'm hoping to do a video like when I built that computer for my parents going about upgrading my computer, I got a new HD camera for Christmas and want to try it out. I'll post as more unfolds.

[Janke 1st MRB]

I've just finished testing my install disks for Ubuntu and Win7, going to finally open the computer now.

[Janke 1st MRB]

The PSU and graphics card both barely fit, but I got all the parts in. Let's hope it at least turns on...

[B. Farr]

Great upgrades, and now enjoy the fun of a faster computer, can really make game play a lot more enjoyable, I know my upgrades helped a lot.

[Janke 1st MRB]

Thankfully, it all works, and I'm now formatting the new hard drive for the Win7 installation.

[Janke 1st MRB]

Got 7 installed, copying all 142GB of Steam over now. Had to download a bootloader to get back into Vista, haven't checked if it worked yet. Unfortunately I didn't get a video, and after getting the shit in there I didn't want a video, I was rather pathetic and unsure of myself during the upgrade process.