You can say, I am a bit of a computer geek. The current computer setup that I am using, would be my 3rd build for myself. The third one, I built it July of 2006 and all parts were ordered from newegg.com
Here are the core current stats for my current machine.
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (Processor)
Kingston ValueRAM 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 PC 3200 (Ram)
GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 (Video Card)
300GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (Hard Drive)
Computer parts always depreciate, and the fact of the matter is, today’s latest and greatest, in one month will be outdated. By outdated, I mean that, there are more powerful machines out there, or has cheapened, etc.
Let’s look at the basic break down.
What the price cost on July 2006.
Processor - $135
Ram - $75.99
Video Card - $173.99
Hard Drive - $97.99
Price cost as of January 2008.
Processor - approximately $49
Ram - approximately $75.99
Video Card - approximately $70
Hard Drive - approximately $70
Even though the prices may be cheaper one and a half year later, the computer is still powerful, and can multi task like a champ. At times, I have many Firefox windows open, dreamweaver, photoshop, and other programs at the same time. And all of the programs run smoothly.
I do run windows xp, but I can tell you if I ran windows vista, my computer would perform more poorly, due to the fact that windows vista is more hardware demanding.
Below is a photo of the current setup I have.
Share your computer stats, and or photo! I would love to know 
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I don’t know if its just me, but I don’t see a photo Jean.
I picked up one of these when they first came out.
Dell XPS 700
The pic is accurate, but I picked up a ATI 1900xtx instead of the nvidia card =P I should have gotten SLI compatible motherboard, but that was failure on my part to do so. As well as not researching thoroughly. Mines runes a little slower at 3.4ghz (2×1.7)
The thing is a beast, contrary to what the review says, the fan is extremely loud. Like I’m in an airport. The case isn’t for LAN parties as the shipping package weighed in at 70 LBS due to the solid metal case. Instead of wings they should have shipped it with wheels.
Also because of the bad choice in graphics cards I picked out, I can only play Crysis on Med resolution at a 25 FPS.
Deciding on whether or not I should pick up an 8800 Geforce so I can atleast finish playing Crysis or Call of Duty 4. Either that or buy a new rig. Mines is 2 years old already.
Dell M1710 XPS
And because I’m a girl, I have my laptop in red
Mitch,
Thats a huge tower!
The most computer demanding game I have, would have to be Half-life 2. With the current setup I have, I am able to get awesome fps, even when running at 1280×1024.
I am not as a heavy of a gamer as I use to be, although I can’t wait for starcraft 2 to come out!
Mariam,
That laptop looks pretty slick! It seems Dell dominates the market share as far as computers go. I guess you can thank steve? If you know what I am saying…..
I love my Dell desktop- the only problem the HD went down and needs replaced. My laptop runs Vista Home Premium and I hate Vista. Hardware intensive isn’t the right phrase- it’s brutal on the CPU. When I can afford to, I’m buying new hardware for the Dell and setting it up as my primary computer. The laptop can be used when I’m too lazy to sit in an office chair
Is your laptop from dell? And is it a recent purchase?
I heard that dell will downgrade to windows xp for free. Since they have had ALOT of upset customers over windows vista.
My recent laptop purchase from Dell Ironically… It came with windows vista home premium. After one day of using windows vista laptop I reformatted the machine, and put my windows xp professional copy on it. And now the laptop is Flying!
Perhaps, consider buying a copy of windows xp cd.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116056
Not an affiliate link
Yea I’ve running Team Fortress 2 with 1600×1024? widescreen. I’m ready for upgrades I guess, but I’m not going to do that triple SLI stuff just to play Crysis on very high graphics =P. My friends are all running 8800 GT/GTS right now so its making me want to pick one up too.
Ive recently built two new computers and avoided Windows Vista. XP still works fine for me and some compatibility issues with some of the hardware I wanted put me off.
Next thing I need to do is pop another could of gig of memory in it
My hubby was a big “builder” for quite a few years because he always had to have the latest greatest everything, especially video cards for running games. About a year ago now, I suspect he was abducted by aliens because he has been switching out all the PCs in the house with Macs. I had to chain my desktop PC to the floor and hide my Gateway laptop, but he is threatening to finish me off when he gets the tax refund this year. I am over 40 and do not think I can learn a new OS, ha ha ha. What are everyone’s thoughts on Macs here?
Nice setup there Jean. I personally would have gone for a large widescreen monitor instead of the dual monitors. I find it annoying having to swing my head side to side all the time.